Surprise. Chapter 11 is here already, because ofc I just want to write for you guys so much.

Haha, no. I can't sleep.

I went to see the Sherlock Christmas special in theaters today, and in the middle of it some lady had her phone out and this guy behind us yelled "TURN OFF YOUR FUCKING PHONE" and this lady stood up and screamed "ANARCHY" and thrEW HER PHONE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE GUY'S VOICE AND IT HIT SOMEONE AND I LAUGHED SO HARD.

Sorry, I just had to share that. How was your day? Let me know in a review ;) I actually do read them, guys.

Btw, chapter titles are v important.

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Anything. Seriously. I'm homeless. This laptop isn't even mine. I stole it. Stole the fanfic, too. All of it.

Marshall Lee's POV

So the ride to the mansion was a trip.

After we had finished up at the mall, we entered the bus just to be met with complete chaos. The Perfects and Ash's gang were arguing big time. Maja had even threatened to tear off one of Ash's arms if he didn't shut up about something. Bonnie kept repeating "STOP TALKING ABOUT HER LIKE THAT" over and over to one of his friends, Xergiok, who didn't seem to stop pestering her. Ashley got so frustrated she screamed at the top of her lungs. Lily Simran Prices and Leon Sheldon Preiss said "OH MY GLOB" after everything a member of Ash's crew said anything. The only people who seemed to not be involved were Summer, Winter, Aiden, Elliot, and Bubba, who was trying to calm down the furious girls in his clique.

They didn't let up once we started driving again either, and Marceline had gotten so frustrated she grabbed Lady's and Cake's hand and moved to sit by the two sets of twins. She beckoned Fionna over, but the blonde refused and remained sitting by me. Finn didn't move either, and sat being comforted by Jake and Lordo. I knew why.

Summer.

He said he was over it years ago, but by the look on his face now he didn't seem all right.

Fionna sighed next to me. I could see she was staring at Aiden and it clicked. I remembered hearing about them dating a while back, but Aiden only told me small details.

"You okay?" I asked her nonchalantly, not making eye contact. Finn had always liked to be comforted without making eye contact, so I assumed it would be good to use that tactic here, too.

She wiped her palms on her jeans, then fidgeted with a loose thread hanging from her blue tank top, pausing and zipping up her white hoodie. If we were under any other circumstances, I would've laughed at her cute nervousness. But we weren't, so I kept my face straight.

"Yeah," she muttered. It was hard to hear her over all of the commotion. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You'll have to forgive me, Blue, but that wasn't too convincing," I said.

She raised an eyebrow, but we still didn't make eye contact as she surveyed the chaotic bus. "'Blue'?"

"Yeah," I said. "Blue. You wear it like, literally all the time, like Finny-Boy over there." I lifted my chin at Finn, who had just dodged Maja's shoe as she hurled it at Ash. Then I added, "Plus you're sad, so . . ."

She shook her head. "I still don't know what went wrong between us."

"Aiden?" I asked, solely for the purpose of confirmation.

"Yes," she said softly. "Aiden." She stared at Bonnie, still yelling her head off. "I just . . . One day, we just didn't click, and . . . I don't remember if one of us suggested it, or maybe it was just some unspoken agreement, but we called it off. I stayed up so many nights trying to figure out what I had done, what led us to that point. I don't know." She played with her fingers in her lap, looking at Bubba now. "I guess I was just a shitty girlfriend."

I dismissed her comment with the wave of my hand. "Nonsense, Blue."

"Huh?" she asked, her head tilting towards me.

"You aren't a shitty girlfriend. At least, you weren't," I said with a sigh. "And I don't know you as a girlfriend. I know you as a friend. And being a girlfriend and being a friend are two completely different things more similar than you think. I've had time to chill with you and I can see pretty damn clearly that you would make some hella rad dude really happy someday."

It took her a moment, but a genuine smile did flicker across her lips. "Thanks, Marsh."

I reached my hand up and tugged on one of the ears of the bunny hat she had gotten as a gift from Finn that day. Finn had a matching one, except they were little bear nubs instead of bunny ears. She had squealed higher than I thought she ever would. The rest of us had all exchanged knowing looks when he gave it to her.

"Hey!" she protested, reaching up and swatting my hand away.

I laughed at her. I pointed at the hat. "You know, that's cute. I like that."

She blushed and looked over at Finn, who wore his matching one. "I like it, too," she murmured.

I bit my lip and tried not to smile.

Thankfully the screaming in the bus had died down by the time we had gotten to the manor, mostly because everyone was in awe at Marceline's grandfather's house. I'll be honest, it was huge. Like, bigger than Marcy's house huge. There was a gray winding driveway that led to a black gate with the word 'Abadeer' printed along it and was long enough that the mansion was on a hill, but short enough that everyone below could see it. It looked like it had several window and was painted dark red and black.

I grinned. Just like Marceline.

Betty had instructed us to get off the bus, respectfully greet and thank "Mr. Abadeer," then go off to pick our houses. Yes, apparently there were actual houses or something in their backyard, which also connected to a beach. Okay, so, seriously, how loaded are the Abadeers? Also, I guessed we didn't have to take our bags and stuff, as some people would bring it to us.

Betty also said that it would only be proper if Marceline went first.

When Marceline stepped off the bus, she took a big, deep breath, like she was afraid of what could happen. I nudged her and told her everything would go smoothly, but only managed a small, fake smile from her. I didn't understand.

But, then again I didn't really understand Marceline in the first place, so . . .

I thought we were okay after the kiss. I thought she had forgiven me. I thought that we could really, honestly put it behind us. And then she just suddenly has all this anger towards me and steals my food sand stays away from me for a day. I got the vibes that she was upset pretty clearly, but was still questioning how I hadn't seen it coming. Had I read her wrong? Probably. But then, after that, she acts all concerned for me when I threatened Ash, which is really confusing. Then at her store, she hugged me. Hugged me. She hugged me. Then once we got back on the bus, she didn't say anything to me.

So confusion and not being able to understand her was putting it very mildly.

And to add to this bewilderment and incomprehensiveness? She slipped her hand into mine as we made the long trek up the driveway. I didn't know if she was looking for support or whatever, but I didn't complain.

And I was still confused as fuck.

At the top of the driveway stood a tall aged man with graying hair and piercing red eyes. It was the eyes (and the sense of self-entitlement) that gave it away. This was Marceline's grandfather.

"My beautiful granddaughter," he greeted, pulling her into a stiff, awkward hug.

She didn't return the embrace. "Hi, Grandpa."

"The maids have already prepped your room for your friends. You do remember where it is, don't you?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Yes, thank you, Grandpa, but . . . I don't like having the maids work while I'm here. Would you mind giving them time off while I visit?"

His expression was strained. "Er, I don't think I can do that. But I can ask for them to steer clear of your floor."

She nodded solemnly. "Yes, Grandpa. Thank you, Grandpa."

His simply nodded at her.

As she swiped a card to open the gates, I muttered, "What, no hello? Geez, he's friendly."

This time I did get a full smile from Marceline and even a small chuckle. "Yes, he's pretty odd. It's been sixteen years and I still don't get him."

"Guy like that?" I rhetorically asked as we made our way to the front door. "You never will."

She laughed and it felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders. So she was happy. For now, at least.

When we entered the Abadeer mansion, was awestruck and had to stand still and take in everything that was around me for a moment. I had never seen a house so damn massive. How much money did this plot of land even cost?

"Did you say you had your own floor?" I asked.

Her smile fell. "Um, yeah, I do. It's basically just one really big room with walls and doors dividing each other. You know how in sleazy hotels some of the rooms are connected by doors? That's pretty much what my floor is. I don't . . ." her voice faltered and she frowned. "I don't think I've ever really used those other rooms."

"Well," I started, trying to stay optimistic for her sake. "I guess today they will."

"A concert?" Marceline asked incredulously. "You want us to do a concert?"

"Now, Marceline, I know this is quite sudden, but what with all the extra space in the backyard, we figured it would be good to hold a party there tonight. And what's a party without music?" Mr. Abadeer explained.

I felt myself cringing at his words.

"Grandpa, the girls and I can't play tonight, even with the spare instruments you have up here. We can't just play-"

I spoke before I could think about it. "We'll do it."

Marceline pause and looked at me. "You?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. Give us some material and we can cover for you."

It wasn't like she hadn't heard us play before, because she had, on several occasions. We'd even done covers of some of her songs before. And we played well last minute or in front of a large crowd. With some tweaking to the girls' instruments, I'd bet my life that we could play those well, too.

"I . . . suppose that could work," Marceline said. When she looked to Mr. Abadeer, he nodded once, but it really just looked like a short bow. "Okay . . . Okay, wow. I guess . . . I guess I'll have to go get some of my material and . . . teach you?"

I shook my head with a smirk. "No need. We catch on pretty quick."

She still looked a little shocked. "Okay, I . . . I'll go find some."

She took off up the stairs to her room (or one of them) and I heard her open up one of her bags, leaving me alone with her grandpa. Now, there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with Mr. Abadeer, it was that he was just so unexplainably creepy. Maybe it was the way the corners of his mouth always tilted upwards, or the way his pupils always seemed to be dilated, or . . .

Wait a minute. I read somewhere that your pupils expand around 50% when you're looking at someone you love. Mr. Abadeer obviously didn't love me, so . . . Did that rule also apply to possessions? Materialistic love? If that was the case, it would explain why everything seemed to go too wide on his face. And it also made him ten times creepier. All he saw when he looked around was the money he had made to get her, and that was what he loved and that . . . that was just something too unsettling to comprehend.

And this guy was Marceline's grandfather. Wasn't she, like, the most generous girl on the planet? And she was related to this guy?

Genetics are weird.

I drummed my fingers against my legs. Waiting for Marceline to come down was getting awfully dull, and increasingly awkward. Mr. Abadeer's body hadn't moved, but he was gazing up and down the walls of his mansion, like he was gonna have sex with it or something later.

Wait.

Ew.

Gross thought. Forget I said that.

The point was, it was getting more and more uncomfortable for me.

"Don't hurt her," Mr. Abadeer said suddenly, still staring at the walls.

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"She adores you."

What?

"What?"

"She likes you, kid. I can tell. And that girl is my world, so if you hurt her, I swear on my mother's grave that I will end you."

Oh, great. First threats from Ashley back when we were kids, then threats from Ash, not threats from a fucking eighty year old wrinkly sack of pale potatoes. Life with Marceline Abadeer was getting to be pretty damn strange.

"You have my word, sir," I said. "I won't hurt her. Ever."

With the rocky road that was Marceline and my relationship, I hoped I could live by that promise.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, GUYS! I KNOW I SAID IT LAST CHAPTER, BUT I'M SAYING IT AGAIN NOW! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Super short, but it's buildup for the next chapter, which will be v emotional, js. Sneak preview: Lyrics. Instruments. Concert. Marceline. Apple. Concert. Bonnie. Crying. Confession. Concert. Unhappiness. Concert. Marshall. Door. Crying.

So, yeah, look forward to that.

Well, I'm off to try and get some rest. You should, too, if it's late and you have things to do tomorrow XOXO

HAPPY THOUGHT:

because in the greatest form of simplicity
you will catch your demons
and turn them into angels
to resemble you
and how you never let the poison soak